Ad-free subscription for Facebook and Instagram in the EU may cost around 40% less in the near future. Reuters reports that Meta offered to reduce its subscription price from €9,99 to €5,99, as worries about European regulators.
Meta's lawyer, Tim Lamb, said at a European Commission hearing:
We have wanted to speed up this process for some time because we need to reach a steady state. So we have offered to drop the price from 9,99 to 5,99 for a single account and 4 euros for any additional accounts.
This is by far the lower end of the range that any reasonable person should be paying for services like this quality, and I think this is a serious offer. There is a regulatory uncertainty at the moment and it needs to be resolved quickly.
Meta launched its ad-free subscription in the EU to comply with the Digital Marketing Act (DMA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). THE law for digital shopping limits how much personal data an online service can collect.
However, the "Pay or Okay" model has attracted the attention of consumer groups who claim that the company is forcing users to "either consent to the processing of their data for advertising purposes by the company or pay to not be shown ads".
Meta currently charges €9,99/month if the subscription is purchased from the web or €12,99/month if purchased from the Android and iOS apps. The company claims its pricing is in line with other platforms like YouTube, Spotify and Netflix.
Although a monthly fee may allow users to improve their privacy, it is possible that user data is still collected for purposes other than advertising on Meta's platforms, according to the European Consumer Organization (BEUC).
Earlier this year, more than 28 organizations sent a joint letter to the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) to raise concerns about the €12,99 charged to users for protection of data and their privacy. The letter also warned that the "Pay or Okay" model could be copied by others Companies which would violate consumer rights.
